Hunter College proposes to continue our tradition of training students from underrepresented populations in different areas of mental health-related research. We propose to expand the objectives and success of our 24- year-old program, which has produced outstanding COR scholars, approximately 26 of whom went on to obtain their PhD, 2 earned MDs, 24 MA, and over 40 are currently registered in Ph.D. Since 1981, 55 60% of Hunter COR students have been enrolled in graduate programs at some of the best universities in the country. Notably, since our last competitive application in 1999, 100% of our graduating students have applied to graduate school, and 90% have enrolled in a PhD program in a mental health-related area. The goals of our program are to incorporate training in different aspects of research including the development of competence in experimental design, data acquisition, statistical data processing, and written and oral presentation of original research. These objectives are accomplished through a course developed for the COR scholars, research placement both within Hunter and at other neighbor institutions, summer research placements outside of New York City, a weekly seminar combining talks by invited speakers with intensive training in a variety of techniques (including statistical analysis, writing skills, and computations), and a separate scientific writing course. These activities will be continued, expanded, and improved. During this funding period, 4 developmental activities are proposed: (1) to develop an intervention initiative to increase the retention of students in graduate programs; (2) to increase the number of COR students from 9 to 10; (3) to develop a new initiative to obtain evaluation of our program by former students; and (4) to further update our database of former COR trainees. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]